[hpp]

Originally Posted by Barrier Blue

One that comes to mind is not test-fitting the rear wheel opening moldings before welding new lower quarters in place.
Another is letting my brother paint the GTO.

Hope your brother dosen't read this.
Let me know if you ever need your car painted,I can do it at work in the paint booth for you.

[hpp]

I restored this '60 Bonneville,here are a few things we did wrong.

1.Didn't set a budget
2.Didn't make a plan as to what and how much we were going to do.
3.Didn't realize the only patch panel made are the rockers.

Take plenty of pitchure's and research the car and parts available prior to the restore...

[opnwide]

Removing the door before replacing the quarter.

Live and learn.

[400 4spd.]

Letting someone else finish a car I started (at work).

[J.D.]

installing an aftermarket quarter on a 70 gto conv with the decklid off. didnt see the bodyline that wraps around the back was off until i put the decklid back on. of course i had already ground and smoothed the weld line ( from the door all the way back to the decklid) out. had to cut the quarter off and get a new one.

[turbo69bird]

Oh man those are all great!!

Just what I had in mind.

I actually have never done a nut and bolt resto so I dont really have any other than the same ones already up.

I have done a lot of customs and Drivers and The biggest one I can say is letting anyone other than Myself touch the car in any way shape or form.LOL

Every time I have ever sent something out I have been disgusted with how it came out.

With the exception of my machine work which liefert in torrington CT does and its perfect everytime.

[x-bird2]

Bought a rust bucket.
didn't have a bank account in the high six or 7 figure zone.
installed a repop partial quarter and spent untold hours--in the hundreds -- trying to make it look nice. now i just want to rip it off, 10 years and the car still isn't painted mainly because of that quarter--and money.

[jww]

Underestimating how time and money it's going to take. Double everything and understand that you're probably low!



JWW

[69goatboy]

Getting too antsy about your first engine and tranny removal and forgetting to drain the fluids.

Actually most of my blunders all seem to boil down to the same thing: lack of patience.

[70 Lemans]

Blunders come and go from time to time but,

If someone thinks they want to attempt a resto. I would suggest starting with a very small project first. Case in point I have been out of the fiberglass and auto body DEAL for many years. Now a good friend of mind had a new fiberglass scoop for his dragster that need mounting. Then paint. Unfortunately for them and me they transfer the holes (large) in the wrong place for the (Zeus faseners) Between grinding and glassing the holes and body work you would be shocked how many hours it took me. Needless to say I was taken back by the amount of time it took me.

Learn procedures first start small and work up to larger jobs to minumise blunders.

Steve. C.

[Hammertime Mike]

BODY FLEX-before taking that project off the frame,especially a conv. add braces to help support the body from changing its shape.If you don't , you won't like your new body lines!

[vamman1]

That Rocker Guard can hide an incredible amount of rust and rot.
Still working on the previous owner's voodoo doll.....

Just throw money at it, it'll work out.

[helmerrock]

First blunder..Restoring the same car three times until I got it right..then selling it

Second blunder...Buying a basket case just because I love the challenge!!

[hottrodd]

it was not a gto, but when i was 23 just out of college, I bought a rust free 57 chevy 1/2 truck, to make into a hotrod, trusted A bodyshop down the road to to a good paint job, he said he would do it for about 1/3 less than anyone else, ended up having to have they paint stripped off & repainted @ another shop. so it ended up costing me twice as much to have it painted right...... my advice, spend the money & have it painted @ a shop with a good rep & quick turn around just once the first time!!!!

[sdx455]

Decided to detail the trunk after car was painted . you know cleanup welds and paint with splatter paint. So I grinded down the welds from the quarter panel patches .did seam sealer and painted, the trunk came out excellent .Then when washing the car I noticed the lower outside quarters were I grinded and it had bubbled and blistered the 6k paint job

[mike nixon]

Trusting someone else to do the work and then not checking up on how they did it.

The rest should be obvious.

Mike

I had to add one other experience.

buying a Scuff and Shoot quality endura from a seller in Jeffersonville IN that turned out to be be a rotten peice of junk. If you can't hold it in your hand don't buy it!

[turbo69bird]

Originally Posted by sdx455

Decided to detail the trunk after car was painted . you know cleanup welds and paint with splatter paint. So I grinded down the welds from the quarter panel patches .did seam sealer and painted, the trunk came out excellent .Then when washing the car I noticed the lower outside quarters were I grinded and it had bubbled and blistered the 6k paint job

That sucks!!!

[Zoojelly]

Originally Posted by x-bird2

Bought a rust bucket.
didn't have a bank account in the high six or 7 figure zone.
installed a repop partial quarter and spent untold hours--in the hundreds -- trying to make it look nice. now i just want to rip it off, 10 years and the car still isn't painted mainly because of that quarter--and money.

doing this now, What doesn't help is trying to get by with a cheap mig or gas welder

[Forrest]

forgot to hang the front clip to test fit before painting, jeez that was a pisser. That was one of the first cars I did a decade or so ago, what a job to fix the alignment issues after I painted the front clip!

[Forrest]

Not to mention, always let your epoxy primer completely dry before applying the high build primer , don't ask